Thursday 5 March 2015

... quick tip on using leftovers

Hello everybody,

It is a simply glorious day here in eastern Ontario with brilliant sunshine. Our solar panels are cranking our power and after I write this, I am going to do my ironing.  :)

You just know that these little post of mine about not wasting food are not going to end, don't you. I feel very strongly about this issue. But lets keep things light ...

We had very very dear friends come and visit on the weekend. Actually, they gave us a hand on more than one occasion when we were building the house. They helped us to stack that very first bale of straw. Although we now live about 4 hours apart we do manage to see each other every few months or so.

They arrived last Sunday and I had decided to cook a roast chicken for dinner. I added garlic mashed potatoes ( I just love them) and I steamed all the veg I could find in the fridge which turned out to be carrots, green beans and broccoli. I usually make substantial quantities when entertaining friends. I do not want to run out of food at dinner so there is ALWAYS leftovers. As you have no doubt realized, I have a love affair with leftovers. I do, I really do.

So, naturally, there was buckets of food leftover after dinner. 

We stripped all the meat off the chicken carcass. The bones went into the bone bag in the freezer. I rarely purchase "cold-cuts" for lunch sandwiches as I prefer that we eat single ingredient foods like the chicken we just cooked so all the meat went into a container for Frank to use for his sandwiches. That left a mountain of potatoes and a large bowl of steamed veg and the gravy.

Now, I wanted Frank to be able to use the chicken but I had already decided that all of the remainder could be used up in a pie. I took a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs out to defrost. Chopped up a couple of onions and sauteed them in a drop of olive oil, added the chicken that I had cut into chunks and cooked until just no longer pink. I let this cool for a few minutes then added all the steamed veg and a good dollop of the gravy. Mixed well and popped that into a casserole dish.

Back to the bucket of potatoes. I smashed them up a bit with a fork and added a couple tablespoons of cream (just 5% cream, not the really rich stuff), a tablespoon of dry mustard and then added copious amounts of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Mixed well and layered this on top of my chicken/veg mix. Grated more Parmesan cheese over the top.

Popped this on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil (I do not like to clean up oven drips) and into the woodstove oven it went for about 20 - 30 minutes. I am guessing that the oven was around 400F degrees. It came out bubbling (hence the cookie sheet) and golden and was utterly delicious. We had it for dinner on Tuesday, I had it for lunch yesterday and there is still enough left for two more lunches for me. No waste. Absolutely delicious meals.

And by now you are thinking to yourself ... what did she do with that little bit of leftover gravy. Well, you should know that I did not chuck it out! Actually, I mixed it up with a little bit of warm water, added a few pieces of carrot and it was a treat for the dogs for their dinner for a couple nights. They each got about a tablespoon of it and they licked their bowls for about 10 minutes. All used up.

I am sorry that I do not have a photo of my chicken pie but it did not occur to me at the time and now that most of it has been gobbled up there is not much left to photograph. :)

That is it for me for now. Thanks ever so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day. Cheers.

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